Overactive Bladder Causes Urge Incontinence Symptom, Overactive Bladder Urge Treatment

Overactive bladder and urge incontinence go hand in hand. As in, overactive bladder causes that urge incontinence symptom.

Overactive bladder means you have a problem with your bladder that causes an urgent need to urinate. Urge incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine caused by the inability to suppress your sudden urge of an overactive bladder.

Overactive bladder is marked by other symptoms of frequent urination and nocturia. And not all of your urges for urination will result in incontinence.

In some cases, you might make it in time so long as where your are includes a very handy toilet. And as insurance, you’ll likely disrupt your life just to be sure.

Under healthy conditions, when a choice is made to urinate nerve signals coordinate muscles of your bladder to contract in concert with relaxation of some other urinary tract muscles. In contrast, your strong and sudden need to urinate of an overactive bladder is caused by involuntary bladder muscle spasms or contractions.

Often overactive bladder contractions occur without regard to how much urine is waiting to be excreted. And if your urinary sphincter is overwhelmed by this, then urge incontinence symptom results.

Uncontrollable bladder muscle contractions can be caused by a neurological disorder, nervous system problem or bladder irritation, such as:

Age increases your risk for developing overactive bladder and urge incontinence. Yet, they’re not considered a normal part of aging.

Fortunately there’s an assortment of treatments available for your bladder induced lifestyle interference. The main treatment approaches for overactive bladder and urge incontinence are medication, retraining and surgery. And it usually takes your own unique combination to take back control.

Medications are designed to relax the involuntary bladder contractions, thus improving your bladder emptying function. These medications may be used alone or in combination:

  • antibiotics ~ urinary bacterial infection
  • anticholinergic ~ relaxes bladder the muscles; side effects dry mouth & eyes, constipation
  • botox ~ paralyzes bladder muscles, not approved by FDA for this purpose, effect only lasts about 6 months
  • tricyclic antidepressants ~ paralyze bladder smooth muscle; side effects blurred vision, dizziness, dry mouth, fatigue, insomnia, nausea

Some of the drug side effects can be alleviated. Sucking on candy, chewing gum and OTC Biotene products can help with dry mouth. And rewetting eye drops help keep your dry eyes moist.

Depending on what’s causing your urgent urination need, your health care provider may recommend some of these behavioral modifications, retraining or device assists for treating and managing overactive bladder:

  • time or delay fluid intake
  • stop fluids a couple of hours before bedtime
  • use absorbent pads ~ protects clothing & avoid embarrassment
  • bladder training ~ delay voiding when you feel an urge to urinate
  • increase fiber intake to relieve constipation associated bladder issues
  • lose weight because extra weight is associated with urge incontinence
  • double voiding ~ wait a few minutes & then try again to empty bladder completely
  • scheduled toileting so that you urinate at the same time every day rather than waiting for the urge
  • electrical stimulation ~ uses a low voltage electric current to stimulate the correct group of muscles
  • eliminate bladder irritating foods ~ caffeine, carbonated drinks, highly acid citrus fruits & juices, spicy foods
  • Kegel exercises ~ strengthen pelvic floor muscles & urinary sphincter which are necessary for holding in urine

For severe cases of overactive bladder and urge incontinence there are a couple of surgical procedures that may offer urge relief, including:

  • augmentation cystoplasty ~ segment of bowel is added to bladder for increase in urine storage capacity
  • sacral nerve stimulation ~ thin wire placed near the sacral nerves for delivery of electrical impulses to your bladder

As with many abdominal surgeries, there are these complication possibilities:

As with most things in life, choosing a healthy fiber rich diet and active lifestyle reduces your risk of overactive bladder causing urge incontinence.

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